Hosea Matthews
Hosea Matthews is a major character featured in Red Dead Redemption 2. Background Born in roughly 1844, Hosea states that he was "raised in the mountains" during his early years. He also mentions that his father lived a life of "sin and debauchery that would make an emperor blush" until he died at age 75, and that he did love him - despite only seeing him 3 times in his life. In his early years, Matthews was briefly a stage actor who had dreams of being a comedian, although he later became an outlaw. In the mid-1870s, Hosea met another outlaw named Dutch van der Linde at a campfire; he tried to con and rob Dutch, only to realize that Dutch had stolen from him in the meantime. Both saw the skill that the other had and laughed, before deciding to team up together. The pair found themselves in Kettering, Ohio. They began conning several people, by posing as international merchants and conning twelve locals into investing $300 into a made-up Portuguese shipping company. They were eventually discovered and arrested by Sheriff Carmichael. However, on 9th March 1877, the two managed to escape their cell, robbing and tying up the sheriff in the process.2 At some point afterwards, the two came across a teenager named Arthur Morgan, who they took under their wing. Hosea describes Arthur as originally being a "delinquent"3, but he benefitted hugely from the mentoring of his two adoptive fathers, Hosea and Dutch. This group of three would eventually expand over the years and become the Van der Linde gang. At some stage, Hosea met and fell in love with a woman named Bessie, whom he later married. He later left the gang for a time to be with her, but he slowly drifted back into it over time. Despite this, Bessie understood who Hosea was and the two stayed together, although she died at some point before 1899. Hosea says that he was "drunk for a year" after Bessie's death. In 1887, the gang committed its first bank robbery, which Hosea was part of. He, Dutch and Arthur raided the bank of Lee and Hoyt and made off with $5000 of gold. After the robbery, they lingered around the town, giving the money away to orphanages and the poor.4 During its early years, the gang made a genuine attempt to help the poor. However, Hosea eventually became disillusioned with the gang over time, when it stopped helping others and instead focused on its own survival, in addition to becoming increasingly violent. Despite his reservations, Hosea remained a loyal member of the gang. As of 1899, Hosea is both the most senior member of the gang and Dutch's lieutenant. Intelligent and level-headed, Hosea regularly advises Dutch and is valued for his wisdom. As much as he shares similar ideals, he tends to favor peaceful methods of making money and is more pragmatic in his understanding of what lies in store for the gang. Personality Hosea is an intelligent outlaw in touch with his wits, having worked as a con-artist and a thief for over two decades. He appears to be a slick talker, using his brains to get into and out of any situation in hand. Unlike Arthur or Dutch, Hosea prefers not to use violence as a means of obtaining money. Instead, Hosea often resorts on elaborate schemes to swindle people out of their money, playing a character to distract and disarm those he is trying to rob. However, Hosea is willing to resort to violence when he feels that it is warranted, such as when he killed a man who tried to rob him when he pulls a gun on Bill and threatens him, and when he participated in the assault on Braithwaite Manor. Having known each other since at least 1877, Hosea became Dutch's right-hand man and closest friend over the duration of two decades of association. By 1899 he appears to be Dutch's most trusted lieutenant, with only Arthur Morgan rivaling if not surpassing him. Over the course of the game, his relationship with Dutch is somewhat tested, as Dutch's increasing brashness and violence begin to clash with Hosea's preference for non-violence. Like Dutch, the gang seems to view Hosea as a sort of fatherly figure. Hosea is one of the few members of the Van der Linde gang that seems to be respected by all of its members. He's viewed as a more level-headed leader than Dutch, with Arthur even remarking in his journal that although Arthur loves Dutch like a father, he "loves Hosea even more". He is a Roman Catholic. Appearance By 1899, Hosea is a lean, elderly man with neat, silver hair cut short and a clean shaven face. In hotter temperatures, Hosea wears either an orange or a striped blue vest over a shirt which is faded blue or plain white, as well as black trousers tucked into embossed, brown leather boots and with a faded red neckerchief and an either black or navy blue hat. In more temperate climates, he can be seen wearing a buttoned dark green coat and, while he is in Colter, Hosea wears a thick brown coat and a stripy scarf loosely hanging around his neck. For the mayor's party and the bank robbery in Saint Denis, Hosea wears a white shirt, a dark blue waistcoat and a black jacket with a black bow tie. In terms of weaponry, he owns two custom Cattleman Revolvers with bone grips and steel frames, both of which are in a reverse position in their holsters with the grips pointing forwards, designed for a cavalry draw. Trivia * Hosea is buried next to Lenny in Bluewater Marsh. However, they can only be visited after "Fleeting Joy". ** Both Hosea and Lenny state in a random dialogue that they wanted to be buried with friends, foreshadowing that they would be buried together. * The relationship between Hosea and Lenny mirrors that of Arthur and John. Both relationships feature one member (Hosea and Arthur) being unsure about their more junior comrade, but later grow to like them and eventually try to convince the other member (Lenny and John) to leave the gang, however, Lenny remains loyal to the gang until death, where as John leaves to start a better life for his family. * Sometimes Hosea can knock Bill and Sean off their feet for being drunk. * He appears to have some form of a lung disease as several charactser such as Dutch and Lenny will comment on this. * Hosea is a fan of crime novels, particularly the Aldous Filson mystery series. Arthur can find one of these books, The Case of the Deceitful German, around his tent or sleeping area. ** If Arthur picks the book up to read it, it is possible to trigger a request mission in which Arthur can find his old friend another book by the same author. As a gesture of gratitude, Hosea will leave some predator bait by Arthur's tent. ** This is the only request mission which is not given directly by the person asking for the item. * Hosea bears a vague resemblance to Clint Eastwood. Whether this is intentional or a coincidence is unknown. * Hosea was the name of an eighth-century BC prophet in Israel who appears in the Hebrew Bible. He authored the book of prophecies that bears his name, which means “salvation”, “he saves”, or “he helps”. * Both of the revolvers used by Hosea look almost identical to John's Cattleman Revolver - they have the same colour scheme and worn appearance. * Hosea's history with surviving the death penalty for a petty theft is possibly based on the book series about Richard Sharpe by Bernard Cornwell, where Obadiah Hakeswill told a similar story. * While chatting around the campfire, Hosea states in a random dialogue that he originally wanted to be a priest although he "didn't know you had to be a Catholic to be a priest", implying that he may not actually be a Catholic or that he wasn't one at the time. Considering his first name, it is possible that he may have been raised as a Jew before possibly converting to Catholicism, although this is unconfirmed. Category:Characters in Redemption 2 Category:Characters Category:Outlaws Category:Outlaw Category:Males Category:Male